Archive for November, 2011

We have just returned from our holiday in Japan and we would like to thank you and JTB for such a wonderful holiday. We were a little concerned about going on a semi conducted tour but we need not have worried. JTB and Sunrise Tours looked after us all the way. They were always there to meet us at every step of the way and to guide us on to the next step. All the staff were courteous, helpful and extremely informative. They made our journey through Japan so effortless and so very interesting. The tours were all interesting and were very diverse. The hotels were all excellent. I cannot think of one thing that we would have changed or done differently, except to have had more time. It was a wonderful holiday and we would certainly give JTB our highest recommendation to anyone who asks.

Yours sincerely

Pat & David

Tags: Hotel, Tour Posted in Reviews | Comments Off on Thank you and JTB for such a wonderful holiday

Hope you are well. Just came back from Japan on Saturday and I had such a fantastic time. Just wanted to say all the hotels you booked were fantastic, great location and the rooms were big and very clean etc. all the staff is always so friendly and as you know Japanese people cannot do enough to help you anyway. Thanks so much for organising all this for me and I’ll make sure I’ll use your services in the future. I’m still in the process of finalising that trip for Rachel Davis and will get back to you and I am working on another party going to Japan so I’ll keep you posted. I’m already thinking of my next trip to Japan, possibly skiing so I’ll get back to you.

Thanks again so much

Laurie

Tags: Hotel Posted in Reviews | Comments Off on I'll make sure I'll use your services in the future.

Just to recap a little, we spent the first 4 nights in Tokyo (Shiba Park Hotel); the next 2 in Yudanaka (Ryokan Biyu no Yado); 4 nights in Kyoto (Ryokan Hatoya); 4 nights in Osaka staying with Japanese friends; 3 nights in Hiroshima 1 in Kurashiki and, our final 2 nights in Tokyo at Shiba Park Hotel again.

In Tokyo, we had two pre-arranged tours you booked for us. A half-day Tokyo tour and a full day Mt Fuji / Hakone tour. Both of these tours were excellent. As we were travelling with our 11yo daughter, having English-speaking tour guides made everything so much easier for her … and for us too.

Shiba Park Hotel continues to be a friendly, comfortable and conveniently located as well.

I’ve already mentioned Yudanaka and Ryokan Biyu no Yado. What a wonderful little town and a brilliant inn. The Snow Monkey park was my wife’s choice, so I didn’t know what to expect. However, the two nights we spent there could easily have become ten!

We had the best time there with Yuki, Masao and Craig. They couldn’t do enough for us.

Kyoto and Ryokan Hatoya was a different story. This was my third visit to Japan, and third to Kyoto so, I’d seen most of the touristy things already. My wife and daughter enjoyed it though.

Ryokan Hatoya was excellently located, so close to the station. It was very comfortable. Some of the staff spoke quite good English, but it was hit-and-miss as to whether they’d be on duty when you needed them. Their onsen was good too.

One area that was curious to us was breakfasts. Not only at Hatoya, but it was highlighted there. There seems to be a notion that Westerners eat hugebreakfasts. Here, and at Yudanaka, our breakfasts were far, far bigger than we could eat. It resulted in a lot of wasted food and a feeling that we’d ‘let down’ our hosts.

My last visit to Japan was 18 years ago and, back then, the breakfasts were not nearly as big as they seem to have become. Maybe there could be some education of accommodation providers to offer a ‘tick the box for what you’d like’ for the set breakfasts.

Some of the places we stayed at, offered buffet breakfasts (Shiba Park Hotel and APA in Kurashiki). We found that a good option too.

While in Kyoto, we did a day trip to Arashiyama. This was a very pleasant, easily accessed area. The unfortunate part for us was that we chose a long weekend to be there. Naturally, that meant we had several thousand of our closest friends there too. Oh well, you can’t do much about that!

If you were lucky enough to be there on an average weekday, it would be quite scenic and a lovely day out.

Apart from the very well conducted Kyoto/Nara all day tour, we also found Nishi-Honganji Temple; walked the Gion District and found some great places to eat.

Can’t say too much about Osaka. We stayed in the home of friends in the southern suburb of Yao. They showed us around their town, mainly the Tennoji area and, we went to Horyuji Temple, one of Japan’s oldest temples and a truly amazing place! On top of that, we saw the Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan Harbour Village and Osaka Castle.

Our daughter loved all these. Tempozan Village was new to all of us and the Ferris wheel afforded great views of the city.

In Hiroshima, we did all the usual things; the Atomic Bomb Dome, the Peace Park, Shukkeien Garden (beautiful … and so close to Flex too!) and, Miyajima (always good to visit).

Next stop was an over-nighter in Kurashiki. In hindsight, I’d not recommend an overnight stay in this town unless there was no other choice.

The Canal Area of town is beautiful and well worth a day trip, even a long day trip to take in as much as possible. However, we didn’t find too much else to interest us in the 24 hours we had there.

Forget the Museum of Natural History … it seemed like it hadn’t been updated since it opened in the ‘80’s.

From Kurashiki, we went back to Tokyo and the Shiba Park Hotel for our final two nights. It was nice to be back in an area we knew well. Jane and Mia went to Disneyland on the following day, while I checked out some motorcycle shops.

On our last day, with an evening flight home, we just took things nice and easy, got to the airport early, shopped, ate and, thought of what awaited us at home.

We had a fantastic trip, made so much easier by the efforts of yourself and JTB. Thank you for your efforts … especially after we re-arranged everything following the March disaster.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the great holiday that I recently had in Japan.I had never traveled to Japan before,had little knowledge of Japanese language or culture.

It was by chance that I found the name JTB Travel in a guide book that I had bought at Aldie.

I had wanted to visit Tokyo, particularly the Ginza and Akihabara area’s and also to visit Kyoto by the Shinkansen Train, and also Yokohama.

I spoke with Jacqueline at JTB, and she organized the tour for me,It was the best and well organized trip that I have ever been on. My travel from Narita to my Hotel (The Washington at Shinjuku ) by Limousine bus direct to the door, The Sunrise Tour to Kyoto ,Sunrise agents met me in the Hotel lobby and took me by Taxi to connect with the Shinkansen, At Kyoto and agent met the train and escorted us to the Hotel for a buffet lunch,and then the Afternoon tour,we were dropped off at the hotels, and then the tour continued the next morning and afternoon,The tour guides were really good giving us lots of information about everything that we visited, and about Japanese culture.All of the pickups and trips were so well organised , it was like clockwork.Arriving back in Tokyo an agent met us at the train station, and took us in Taxi’s back to our Hotels,There were two Americians on the tour and they also said that the Tour was the best that they had been on.

It wasn’t just the tour but the overall help that I received,such as arranging an early check-in at a Hotel

organising a cell-phone rental,And even help after i got back home to send flowers to a sick friend in Japan.

I would like to thank you for all your help, in making my trip to Japan the best time of my life.